21st Day of Advent

[Alexias]

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The so-called 'Dying Alexander' from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Original Hellenistic piece, late 2nd Century BC.

The piece has been known since 1550, when it was listed as a portrait of the dying Alexander in the collection of Cardinal Pio da Carpi in Campo Marzio, Rome. The theory of the identification with the Macedonian ruler, which remained popular until the discovery of the Azara head in Tivoli in 1779, played a fundamental role in the fortunes of this piece among critics (Mansuelli 1958 pp. 94-96). Approximately in 1580, when the sculpture arrived in Florence, it became a source of inspiration for paintings (Monaco 1996, with bibliography) and was also replicated in marble, as shown by a head currently preserved in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Florence, and three times in porphyry in the workshop of the Ferrucci del Tadda's family (Monaco 2007). The history of the restoration, which was complex and influenced by the changes in taste and opinion regarding the figure of Alexander, also testifies to the great fortune of this sculpture (Mansuelli 1958, pp. 94-96, Monaco 2007).

https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/so-ca ... -alexander

It is no longer believed to represent Alexander, but to be part of a large sculptural group such as those from the Pergamon altar.

[hiphys]

My little guide book to Uffizi Museum writes this note about the head: "The bust, the lower half of the neck with the locks covering the nape, the hair on the left of the face, and the front nose are all restored with a fine-grained grey marble during the Renaissance.